Thousands of Children Tour Restored Tel Aviv Shul

Thousands of children visited the Chabad-Lubavitch run synagogue in the trendy Shenkin neighborhood of Tel Aviv over the course of last month, flocking to the facility with their public school classmates to learn about the Jewish holidays and receive their first bound volumes of the Torah.

Run by Rabbi Yossi Gerlitzky, director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Tel Aviv, the Geulat Yisrael Bet Moshe synagogue reopened last summer after an extensive renovation project.

Schools throughout Israel’s largest city decided this year to celebrate their “Chumash Parties” at the synagogue in deference to its historic importance.

Over the past month, more than 3,000 children visited the synagogue to learn about the High Holidays, Sukkot and Simchat Torah from Chabad-Lubavitch of Tel Aviv program director Rabbi Yitzchok Beer.

Some children, who had never been inside a synagogue before, were amazed by what they learned.

After attending, Israel Public Radio host Liat Regev told listeners of the experience of watching her son receive his first bound volume of the Torah.

The children learned how the letters of the Torah are written by a scribe known in Hebrew as a sofer.

As part of their “Chumash Parties,” second graders tried their hand at writing verses from the Torah with a quill feather and ink.